Germany vs Spain – Youngsters take on tiki-taka masters

Both Germany and Spain are priced at 13/8 to win their eagerly anticipated semi-final, and while they are evenly matched in terms of quality, the two sides are markedly different in style.

There is a fierce, long-running rivalry between the teams, and in 20 encounters, there have been eight wins for Germany, six Spanish victories and six draws.

Germany have the edge in World Cup meetings, as they have won two of the three matches, while the teams drew 1-1 when they faced each other in 1994.

On the two occasions that Germany beat Spain – in 1966 and 1982 – they went on to be World Cup runners-up.

This year, however, Joachim Low’s side will be hoping to go one better, and they are 15/8 to lift the Jules Rimet trophy for the fourth time in their history.

There has only ever been one goalless draw between Germany and Spain, and with no World Cup semi-final to ever finish 0-0 after extra-time, goals seem inevitable in this tie. A match total of over 2.5 goals is priced at 11/10.

While both sides play attractive, attacking football, there will be an intriguing clash of styles on display.

Spain’s ‘tiki-taka’ philosophy is based on a patient, short passing game where possession is kept religiously. Germany, however, favour a counter-attacking approach where players fluidly switch positions and swarm upon the opposition’s penalty area in great numbers.

Lukas Podolski is 7/1 to open the scoring, and he is expected to start in an advanced, left-sided role, where he is likely to regularly swap places with the more central playmaker Mesut Ozil.

Playing in front of a less expansive – though equally creative – midfield will be Spain’s David Villa, and the Barcelona striker is 3/1 to score first.

Will this tie go beyond 90 minutes? The draw is 23/10. See the full Germany vs Spain market.